Sunday 19 January 2014

Special, Sunday 19 Jan 2014, Exa


Welcome to our new setter Exa.
Three answers per commenter (with annotations) upto 6 PM.
Constructive criticism welcome with comments.


ACROSS
1   Spell of work with neighbours (4)
3   Animal pornos I rate right away as XXX? (10)
9   New wind oboe needs individual capital (7)
11 Messy garbage bags left for girl could be a problem (7)
12 First trip. First tripper (7)
13 With time, gold class act turns hit (7)
14 You won't need a pilot when you take this flight (9)
16 Big limo or convertible shows complication (9)
22 Later, I stripped before Romeo to provide a teaser (7)
25 A representative in Rome could've been this on reflection? (7)
26 Singer's crazy about a new mix (7)
27 Enduring little pain before dumping the chief guest's head aboard (7)
28 What x could be to a coder? (In programming) (2-8)
29 Left without large and small newts (4)

DOWN
1   Present engagement rings to men finally (6)
2   Harsh pupil is ditching one for small mistakes (4-3)
4   Indicator for the purpose of taking a U-turn (7)
5   Etihad air travels in daytime starts flying out of this ancient Alpine province (7)
6   Row about the Grand as there's a yellow layer on it (5)
7   It's more problematic around the start of bridge card game (5)
8   Put a bit of salt in one's stew (6)
10 Craft or mostly sorcery spun by one (7)
15 Film extracts observed in negatives can be obscure (7)
17 Business capital falls after recession for the second time, losing a deal (7)
18 Actor loved cooking old stew out of ham (7)
19 Ground rules of one's individuality (7)
20 It's descriptive of "The Inseparables" (6)
21 Cold breaks at mountain peaks? (6)
23 One's needed by a dumb duo to have a normal conversation (5)
24 Wired LED circuits around home (5)


To attempt the crossword on a separate page follow the link EXA 1

Enjoy.

61 comments:

  1. 16.A. IMBROGLIO {BIG LIMO OR}*

    ReplyDelete
  2. 29 A Left without large and small newts (4) EFTS { (L)EFT + S}

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  3. 2 D Harsh pupil is ditching one for small mistakes (4-3) SLIP-UPS {(PUPIL (I)S +S}*

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  4. 25A : A representative in Rome could've been this on reflection? (7) EMPEROR {EM{PER<--}OR<--}

    ReplyDelete
  5. 26A Singer's crazy about a new mix (7) {MAD}{ON}{NA*}
    28A What x could be to a coder? (In programming) (2-8) CO-ORDINATE*
    19D Ground rules of one's individuality (7) OURSELF*

    Well-constructed anagrams.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 15.D.ECLIPSE. E{CLIPS}E.CLIPS=FILM EXTRACTS. E=NEGATIVES IN LOGIC

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  7. 20D : It's descriptive of "The Inseparables" (6) ATOMIC (CD)

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  8. 22A : Later, I stripped before Romeo to provide a teaser (7) TRAILER {LATER+I+R}* Def : Teaser

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  9. 6D-TIGER- TI(G)ER
    Row- Tier. Grand-G

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  10. 23D- AUDIO
    Dumb duo*- UDO
    One-I
    Needed for normal conversation- Def.

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  11. Animal pornos -- prohibited

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  12. Replies
    1. @King: You need to explain how you arrived at the answers.

      Delete
  13. Replies
    1. The correct answer is ECLIPSE - posted by CA Prasad at 11:24

      Delete
  14. 3A Operations*-R
    5D Rhaetia*-dt
    7D OM (b) RE*

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  15. Austria is known as alpine province

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  16. @King

    Please give the annotations of your answers else I will have to delete the same. Please also indicate the clue numbers. Your answers given for 3A, 5D and 15D are incorrect.

    ReplyDelete
  17. 11.A. ALGEBRA. {GARBAgE+L}* DEF: TYPE OF PROBLEM

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  18. 8D: Put a bit of salt in one's stew (6) --- SE(A S)ON* , &lit [bit of salt = S, one's stew = SEON*]

    10D: Craft or mostly sorcery spun by one (7) --- OR cIGAM<- I

    14A: You won't need a pilot when you take this flight (9) --- STAIRCASE (CD)

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  19. Isn't the first "first" in 12A unnecessary?

    Otherwise, some brilliant constructs. And great surfaces (As I'd expect from Exa)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. First trip Meaning (trip/tour comes first in the answer)= TOUR
      First = 1ST
      tripper = {TOUR}{1ST}

      Delete
  20. My across lite not working and not able to access even via separate link. But some beautiful clues here, great job

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bhala
      As long as you have installed AcrosLite on your machine, you can d/l the .puz file and then open it in AL.
      I used that method because I too could not use the file as you have detailed.

      Delete
    2. Problem with security settings prevents me from opening the installed Acroslite program.

      Delete
    3. I too was having the problem. I had to update Java on my machine and then downgrade the security setting

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    4. With apps elsewhere we had the same problem. While online we could not get them to work. We were advised by fellow-solvers that after Java has been updated, we should downgrade the security setting when the app works online.

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    5. I too had this problem. Whenever I want to open, "Application blocked by Security Setting" pops out ! Luckily I took printout of the puzzle and had no problem in solving.

      Delete
    6. The problem I had is exactly as what others have described. I did try to change my settings, even reinstalled Java, but did not work.

      Col: would be obliged if you could mail me a step-by-step tutorial on how you downgraded the security settings.

      CV: Agree with you, but how do I even download the puzzle?

      Akash: great stuff, look forward to seeing more

      Delete
    7. Bhala,

      In Control Panel open Java, click on Security tab and under that reduce security level to medium

      Delete
  21. 12 across: First trip, first tripper--- trip - TOUR first- ist--- TOURIST-- who is a tripper

    21 down: Cold breaks at mountain peaks?-- Cold-- C breaks-- RESTs-- CRESTS-- mountain peaks

    17 down: Bssiness capital falls after recession for the second time losing a deal: BARGAIN
    Business capital: B falls- NIAGARA falls- reverse( recession) - losing A-- ARGAIN - BARGAIN

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  22. 9A New wind oboe needs individual capital (7) {N}{AIR} {OB} {I}

    ReplyDelete
  23. 1D Present engagement rings to men finally (6) {D {O} {N} ATE}

    ReplyDelete
  24. 18D Actor loved cooking old stew out of ham (7) OVERACT { ACTOR LOVED - OLD}*

    ReplyDelete
  25. 'rings' in plural threw me off the track thinking of 2 O's. It took me a while even after seeing your parsing. Good one.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I too toyed with balls before I realised that (to change the metaphor) I was up the wrong ....

      Delete
    2. "Rings" had me running around in circles ! For Anno only !! Got overact alright.

      Delete
  26. I agree with Bhala, Mohsin and others that some of the clues here are first-rate. Words such as ORIGAMI, NAIROBI, CRESTS - all that I as a setter have clues many times - have been handled with penache. The word breakup may be the familiar one but the surface reading has been handled in a refreshing manner. This setter has a future, no doubt.

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  27. 13A T OR PE DO
    27A AGELESS (Acheless. - Remove ch for chief and put in g for guest head apboar)
    4D POINT ER<

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  28. That last one

    1A - {DO}{S}{E} S & E being neighbours on the map similarly in Bridge

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  29. Good cw by exa. Look forward to seeing you more often.

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  30. In 13a I think the setter means PE - physical education - which is a 'class' in school.

    We are now left with 1a which too, along with the three answers that Suresh has just given, I got minutes before I posted my first message here.

    Let someone else take it !!!

    ReplyDelete
  31. EXA with the "Axe" effect? Some very good clues( and some not easy) as everyone has pointed out..

    ReplyDelete
  32. An excellent CW from Exa !

    I couldn't get the role of XXX in 3 Across and X in 28 Across. Need some help here pl :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. in 3A, X represents multiplication i.e. an "operation". So, XXX = OPERATIONS

      28A: In maths, x and y refer to coordinates. (x,y) is a standard coordinate form of representing a point on a 2D grid.

      Delete
    2. Thank you very much Mohsin ! I have no head for fgures !!

      Delete
    3. Those Xs in 3A reminded me of XXX Rum !

      Delete
  33. Great effort by EXA- well-contrived and clever ploys used. As CV says, he should join the panel-- at least for Sunday Specials as a rescue.- reserve-resource. Clue of my day is STAIRCASE. DId'nt like much 1 across and 11across. It was staring at me, where I had lived -- NAIROBI !
    How many engagement rings do we give a man? Why two- that's amounting to bigamy !
    Deepak-- I had logged in an explanation for Mohsin on first Tripper, as you did. Where did it taker a trek into cyberspace? A very pithy clue formation to my delight.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Many thanks to everyone for the (very) kind comments + feedback and also for taking the burden to solve my offering
    given that there were quite a few unknown words..
    Also big thanks and sorry to the Colonel for all the trouble I gave him.
    I was waiting till everyone had had a go to post my interpretations to a few mild queries (probably they've
    been answered already but anyhow, I shall do my duty) :

    3A X is intended as multiplication 'into' thingy. err... Nasty reading. yes.

    9A I took advantage of the fact that Collins gives oboe=ob. :P Definitely not a standard cwd abbreviation, but my idea
    was that if used often it could become one. will try my best not to take such things for granted in future :)

    12A First trip is intended to give 'IST TOUR'. the next 'first' is to imply the position of the 'TOUR' going before 'IST'
    Just realized that the first 'first' can be seen as an extra as Mohsin pointed out. My only intention was (hopefully) for
    a more classy reading.
    13A As already pointed out, I'd gone for the same. PE= phys. ed class ref

    25A An attempted &lit

    23D - This was intended as a semi-lit with whole sentence as def. Hopefully it err... had that effect.


    17 D Just to add to the anno... I have also mentioned that it is the second 'A' that is to be left out.

    Anyway, I'm sure this was a breeze for the solvers here. Some of you already know me. No reference to 'axe' effect by the way :D
    Thanks again everyone.

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  35. Thank you 'Exa' Akash for the thorough point by point (or clue by clue) clarification, not to speak of the excellent CW as expressed by all. We should be seeing you more often. Thank you once again.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Bhala,
    Incase you have two browsers on your machine, I think this problem can be circumvented. I usually use Chrome and Acrosslite did not load, but it opened when I used IE.

    ReplyDelete

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